1. Field of the Invention
The present embodiments relate to electronic circuits for managing power consumption, and more particularly, methods and circuits for managing power consumption utilizing keeper circuits.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many electronic circuits are regulated by a clock signal with two different cycles. Typically, a pre-charge cycle is used to load values in registers of the electric circuit, and an evaluation cycle is used to read these values. In the pre-charge cycle, power is provided to the electric circuit to charge electronic components that may hold one or more binary values. In the evaluation cycle, an output is obtained from the electronic circuit based on the stored values during the pre-charge cycle.
During the evaluation cycle, current leakage may take place as the transistors in the electronic circuit may leak current. If the leakage is too high, there is a possibility of an erroneous read of the loaded values. A keeper circuit is incorporated to solve this problem. The keeper circuit provides current to the electronic circuit during the evaluation cycle in order to compensate for the leakage in the electronic circuit.
Some existing solutions for leaker circuits provide a fixed amount of current from the leaker circuit, without consideration to the amount of leakage actually suffered by the electronic circuit. This may cause unnecessary power consumption in the electronic circuit.
It is in this context that embodiments arise.